


It's For Science

by icyowl97



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt, Gen, Heartbreak, M/M, Strex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-02
Updated: 2014-05-02
Packaged: 2018-01-21 16:22:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 874
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1556648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/icyowl97/pseuds/icyowl97
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Not many people know this, but Carlos actually got a degree in acting.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It's For Science

"Cecil, you were just a distraction." Carlos spit the words out like they were acid and would burn a hole in his tongue if they stayed in his mouth too long. 

Cecil stumbled back, his hands over his chest. He said nothing, but there was a loud, audible crack that, knowing Night Vale, was probably Cecil's heart.

"C-Carlos" Cecil stuttered, his voice cracking. "Don't say that!"

Carlos didn't even flinch at the brokenness in Cecil's voice. He just pressed on cruelly. "Cecil, look at yourself, then look at me. Why would I want to be with you? You're a freak, Ceec."

Tears were flowing down Cecil's face now, and Carlos leaned forward to brush some away. He held his finger up om front of Cecil.

"You cry blood, Ceec." He said, pulling a hankerchief from his pocket to wipe the blood away before carelessly throwing the piece of cloth that Cecil had spent hours embroidering behind him. "And your blood is purple. You aren't even human, Cecil."

Cecil gripped the table behind him tightly, trying to keep from collapsing. He kept his eyes locked on the floor, not willing to meet Carlos's gaze. "But C-Carlos, I love you!" He said, his voice raw with emotion. 

"And I never loved you. How could I? You're a monster." Carlos's words weren't spoken as fact, they weren't set forward in the terms of science and logic that Cecil loved to listen too, even though he didn't understand them. This words weren't spoken to explain some mystery of science to Cecil, they were spoken only to hurt him. 

There was a second crack and this time Carlos realized it was coming from his own necklace, the one tucked under his lab coat. He slipped the chain off his neck and found that the heart-shaped bloodstone that Cecil had given him was split almost in two, a purple liquid dripping out slightly.

"Why, Cecil, am I breaking your heart?" Carlos asked as he dangled the pendent in front of Cecil, and he grinned when Cecil gave a pained nod. "Funny. I hadn't even realized you had a heart."

Cecil's arms gave out and his head smacked against the table as he slid to the floor. This was far too much for Cecil, far too much. Cecil may not have had a very big heart, but he gave so much of what little he had to Carlos. 

Carlos threw the bloodstone at Cecil, his face painted with disgust as he looked at the floor. Cecil's tears were rolling down his face and onto the floor. "Get out." He snarled at Cecil.

When Cecil didn't uncurl from his spot on the floor, Carlos walked over to him and grabbed him, pulling him up. The arms that had once held Cecil so tenderly as the couple had gazed into the void now dug in too tight, the nails piercing into the skin and drawing blood.

Cecil let out a cry, for both the physical and emotional anguish as Carlos dragged him to his feet and flung him towards the door.

"Go!" Carlos shouted, and Cecil whimpered like a kicked puppy, curling his body protectively against the already broken blood stone. "I don't want to see your face ever again!" 

Cecil stumbled out the door of the lab, tears blurring his vision as he staggered home, both hands tightly clutching the heart shaped bloodstone to his chest. 

Carlos let the door swing shut before he moved. He slowly picked up the hankerchief he had thrown behind him, his thumb tracing the raised lines that formed his name, and the lines of eyes, the lines of tentacles, of the radio tower. The lines that formed the beating heart of this town, the town that his heart had come to beat in time with. He closed his eyes, tracing out the path of Night Vale. He didn't look. He didn't need to, he knew these lines better than he knew his own face.

He sat there in silence for a few minutes before opening his eyes to gaze up at the man who stood before him now, his face a look of drawn resignation and pain. "Was that good?" he whispered, his voice now as broken and raw as Cecil's had been. 

The man nodded, a smile- no, it was not a smile- creeping across his face. "I have to admit, Mr. Scientist, I didn't think you had it in you. Crushing his heart so brutally." he tsked. "One might think you hadn't care for him at all."

Carlos knew he should feel angry, but he didn't. He just felt empty. "He'll be safe?"

"As safe as one ever is in Night Vale."

Carlos's face hardened slightly. "You won't harm him."

The man nodded and held his hand out to Carlos. "You kept your side of the bargain, and Strex is nothing if not trustworthy. Now come on, Mr. Scientist. The Smiling God waits for no man."

Carlos took his hand and stood up, slipping the hankerchief into his pocket. Cecil was safe, and even though he'd never know how much the Scientist loved him, he might live long enough to begin to suspect. And that was something that Carlos was willing to die for.


End file.
